Endings and Beginnings: A Collections of Drabbles
by MandyinKC
Summary: This is a series of entries written for The Ultimate Pairing Drabble Competition on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenge forum and my first post!
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is my first post and I am very nervous about it. Please be warned that there is talk of abortion in this one. Please be kind.

Author's Note II: This will be a series of 10 drabbles written for the Ultimate Pairings Challenge on _Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges forum__._

_The characters do not belong to me, but to JK Rowling._

Endings

Prompt: Ending

Pairing: Percy and Penelope

It felt like his world was ending.

Percy stood outside Oliver's flat, head pressed to the door, desperate for his best friend to open up. Only Oliver was not home, he was on a road trip with Puddlemere. He pointed his wand at the door and undid all of Oliver's wards and let himself into the flat.

He collapsed onto the sofa and let the tears come.

It had not been so many days ago that he had walked out on his family. It had been a mistake, he'd known it almost instantly. But, damn it, Dad was wrong too. Percy was more than just a pawn in Fudge's new vendetta against Dumbledore. Or, at least, he had a chance to prove that he could be more than just a pawn.

He had gone straight to Penny's after the fight with Dad. He had been so angry, madder than he could ever remember being. Penny had been quiet all through his long tirade about how unfair Dad had been, how he deserved a little bit of credit for all the hard work he put into his job. But even from her, he kept his secret fear: that he had lost his family in one instance of rash words.

Then she had said the most unimaginable, the most magical words: "Percy, I'm pregnant."

His despair had turned instantly to joy. Becoming a father, especially at 19, had never been a part of his plans, but from the moment she said the words his plans were inconsequential. He was going to have a baby. Him and Penny, they were going to be a family. He remembered what it felt like to smile so stupidly as he had in that moment.

But he should have paid more attention to what she was saying next.

"The timing is all wrong," she said. "You see that, don't you? I mean, I just started my internship with the Magical Law Enforcement Office. I don't want to give up all that I've worked for."

"We'll work something out, Pen," he had told her. He tried to hug her, but she stopped him.

"Oh, it's that easy, is it? You just took this great promotion, are you going to give that up to stay home with a baby?"

"Yeah, maybe," he had laughed, but the idea had struck a cord in him. His whole world had shrunk down to the size the baby growing in his girlfriend's womb. Unexpected, yes. But not unwelcome.

Then…Today, just minutes ago, it was all over. His happiness, the future he had only just begun imagining for himself, his little family…all gone.

"Percy, the pregnancy is over," she'd said awkwardly.

"What?" he'd asked dumbly. "Oh, Merlin, Penny. Was it a miscarriage?"

He'd been sad, but hopeful at the same time. He'd wanted this baby, but these things had a tendency to work out the way they were supposed to. They could try again. Do it properly this time.

"No, Percy," she'd said, he keyed in on her voice. It was strange, rather strangled. "I terminated the pregnancy."

"What?"

He couldn't seem to understand what she was saying. He didn't understand the words. 'Terminated'? He couldn't grasp that word.

"An abortion, Percy," she whispered the word. "I just…The timing was wrong, all wrong."

That word he had understood. It'd hit him in the chest so hard that it had been hard to breathe. He'd stared at this woman that he loved, that he wanted to marry and felt such hatred for her. His hands had been shaking as he'd clutched at his hair. How dare she? How dare she _terminate_ something that he had loved?

He had spun on the spot and Disapperated to Oliver's flat. He didn't know where else to go. His family was lost to him.

Now he was alone, sobbing into his friend's sofa and all he wanted was his mummy.


	2. Chapter 2

_The characters do not belong to me, but to JK Rowling._

Owls

Prompt: Owls

Pairing: Katie and Oliver

Katie Bell watched the owl fly up to the chateau, wishing that it carried a letter for her. It didn't matter from whom. Angelina, Alicia, one of the twins, Professor Vector, even! It really didn't matter, just someone to bring her news of home, of the war. Someone to alleviate this loneliness. But she knew that it was dangerous for anyone to write to her. The Ministry, run by You-Know-Who's minions, were tracking everything and everybody these days.

As a Muggleborn witch, Katie was particularly at risk, but so were the friends who had smuggled her and others like her out of Britain. And so were the Delacours who had opened their home to her and Catriona Wood, along with the other witch's young son. They were lovely people and wonderfully kind, but Katie longed for home.

But it was more than home that she yearned for. She longed for Oliver Wood, her old friend and Quidditch captain turned so recently and briefly into lover. She wished for the opportunity to explore her feelings for him, to learn what it meant to be more than friends.

Merlin, what a time to start a love affair? In the middle of a war. The night before she became a refugee running from persecution. No sweet nothings for Katie, although that was probably more than she could ever hope for from Oliver, war or no war. No, it was hurried and desperate confessions of love, followed by lovemaking that only served to make her ache for him more.

She walked up to her room, using the back staircase, and collapsed into her bed. It was a bright and beautiful French day, but she was feeling melancholy. Best just to sleep through it.

Sometime later, she was roused by a knock on her door. Feeling groggy, her hair mussed from sleeping on it, she stumbled to the door. Catriona was on the other side, the baby on her hip.

"You have a visitor," the young widow said with a sly smile.

"A what?" Katie asked disbelievingly. Surely, this was her sleep addled brain playing tricks on her.

Catriona stepped aside and there he was. Oliver, in flesh and blood, looking adorably unsure of his welcome.

Katie launched herself at Oliver, who caught her easily.

"But how?" she breathed.

He didn't respond with any clever lines, just plain honesty.

"Puddlemere is playing the Province team. I asked for liberty and, well, here I am."

Merlin, she loved this man.


	3. Chapter 3

_The characters do not belong to me, but to JK Rowling._

Prompt: Delivery

Pairing: Ron and Hermoine

Delivery

"So, let me get this straight?" Ron said, not for the first time. "You just pick up the fellytone, dial a number, make a request and food arrives at your home still hot?"

"Yes, Ron," Hermoine huffed, this conversation had seemingly stretched out for hours and she was feeling exasperated. "It's called delivery."

"And I can get pizza? Or Chinese? Or Indian?"

He listed all of the things he had tried at the Grangers, who were big fans of delivery.

"Even sandwiches," she said.

"Meh, my mum makes sandwiches," he dismissed the idea out of hand. "Even _you_ make sandwiches."

She wanted to react to that comment with outrage, but for once she was without a comeback. It was true, after all. She wasn't one for cooking, but she could make sandwiches.

"So do you think you could show me how this thing works?" he asked, his ears burning, motioning to the telephone.

Hermione's heart melted a little bit. Ron was afraid to appear stupid in front of her, but little did he know that she could never think him stupid. Yet, here he was, asking her for help to do something the youngest Muggle could do with ease.

"It's okay that you don't know how to use a telephone, Ron."

"I know that."

"You didn't grow up with telephones, after all."

"Yeah, I know."

"I mean, it took me awhile to master the Floo."

"Great. Hermoine, I want Chinese, can we get on with this, then?"

"Oh, right."

Well, maybe he had the emotional range of a tablespoon these days. That was still progress.


	4. Chapter 4

_The characters do not belong to me, they belong to JK Rowling._

Prompt: Darkness

Pairing: Andromeda and Ted

Darkness

Sometimes, Andromeda thought of her life as being divided into two sections: darkness and light.

The darkness had been her childhood. All the years spent amongst the stars of the Black family. Where being graceful was more important than being kind. Where being beautiful was more important than being sane. Where dark magic was a hobby to be dabbled in. Where judgment was to be passed on anyone without the right blood, the right wealth, the right position.

But light…that was Ted. His laugh was loud and infectious. He loved a bad joke and all of her jokes were bad, or so he said. His smile was broad and sunny. Just the sight of it was enough to warm her heart like a ray of sun on an upturned face. His love of Muggle and Wizarding literature, his need to share it. He should have been a fat old Literature professor, he told her once. His delight in magic as simple as levitating a feather.

In the beginning, Andromeda had learned so much from him. To let go of her prejudices. To laugh naturally and often. To view the world in color. She could never understand what _he_ had seen in _her_, she felt as though she had nothing to offer him but darkness and cold.

"Why is darkness a bad thing, Annie?" Ted asked. "What is light without darkness?"

Then he had kissed her and kissed her and she knew that she could never go back to her world of darkness.

She had never been able to completely let go of her rigid upbringing. Andromeda's manners were stiff and formal, used to subtly cut a person down, as opposed to Ted's simple ways that were meant to put a person at ease. She often longed for the city and all its cultures, but lived quietly with Ted in the village he had grown up in, straddling the Muggle and Wizarding worlds. She had never been able to accept his Muggle religion and church, though she knew there to be an afterlife and God.

But she learned to keep a garden, where he would do all the hard work and she would do all the dirty work and together they created something beautiful. And she learned to love Muggle movies at the local cinema which was a magic she had never imagined. And she loved the family he gave her in the form of his parents and sisters.

And she loved the being they created by combining his light and her darkness: their Nymphadora. She had Ted's optimism and Andromeda's cutting wit and a spunk that was all her own. And she was theirs, their little girl.

But now Andromeda lay in her empty bed, curled around his pillow, with no hope of seeing him again.

There would be a third section to her life...

This one, she feared, would be lived in darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

The characters do not belong to me, they belong to JK Rowling.

Prompt: Hands

Pairing: Fleur and Bill

Hands

"Fleur, come in here!"

Fleur walked into the nursery where Bill was changing their new baby's nappie. They had only recently moved Dominique into Victoire's very, very pink room, as befitted a princess or two. This room was still the same as all three Weasley babies passed through it: sunshine yellow, decorated with starfish.

"What is it, _mon cher_?" she asked.

Bill grinned at her, his eyes flashing with love and pride. "He smiled."

Fleur gasped and rushed over to the changing table. Little Louis was looking up at her with cloudy blue eyes, flailing his fist in the air. She took one little hand in hers. Louis had Bill's hands, she had noticed it immediately. As well as Bill's red hair and a fair scattering of freckles too, but those were her ears and eyes.

"Oh, no, _monsieur_," she scolded playfully. "You were supposed to save your first smile for your _maman_. I worked very hard to bring you into zis world, you know."

Bill reached around Fleur to place a large, scarred hand on the baby's tummy and tickled it. The baby smiled up at his parents, flailing his fists excitedly.

"Oh, my," Fleur gasped again, tears coming to her eyes.

That was Bill's smile. The one from before Grayback attacked him and left his mouth damaged. Fleur had loved that smile and she had never thought to see it again. But there it was, on her infant son's face. She scooped the baby up, kissing his precious head, inhaling his sweet scent. It felt as if her heart was growing for it ached with the joy she felt in that moment.

Bill wrapped his arms around the two of them, pulling Fleur against his chest, one hand cupping the baby's head. "Why are you crying?"

"We have made zee whole world over, _mon_ Bill," she whispered.

He blinked at her. "Women," he scoffed, the one corner of his mouth quirking into a smile, the other remaining stubbornly in place. "You're all mental."

She reached up to cup his ravaged face in one hand. "I love your smile."

"Yeah? Yours is pretty nice too," he quipped. "But while we stand here, the rest of the house is unnaturally quiet, which can mean only one thing."

Fleur groaned. "Zee girls are probably burning it down as we speak."

Hands entwined, they left the nursery to find out what fires needed to be put out now.


	6. Chapter 6

Authur's Note: Ok, so this one is a bit of a cheat because it is a friendship fic and not a love fic, although I think you'll find a bit of romance in it ;)! Besides, we all know that boyfriends and husbands are nice, but your real Ultimate Pairing is your BFF!

_The Characters do not belong to me, they belong to JK Rowling._

Prompt: Books

Pairing: Fleur and Audrey

Books

"So, zese are Muggle books?" Fleur asked, picking up the paperback.

She and her new friend, Audrey Sprayberry, were sat on Audrey's bed in Ravenclaw tower with a dozen books spread out in front of them

"Well, I use to read Wizarding romances, but my mother put a stop to that," Audrey said. "You know, the pictures on the covers _moved_."

Fleur cocked her head to the side, examining the front of the book in her hand. The man on the front appeared to be ripping the woman's bodice open. She could not help but think that Mrs. Sprayberry's concerns were valid.

"And zese will help improve my English?"

"Oh, they'll improve your knowledge of a lot of things," Audrey smirked.

Fleur opened the book to the middle and skimmed through the page. She felt a blush heat her face. She saw what Audrey meant. This was definitely going to be educational. She shifted on the bed, pressing her thighs together.

Then her brow furrowed as she came to a word she didn't understand.

"Audrey," she said, nudging her friend. "I do not understand zee use of zis word here."

Fleur pointed with one, elegant finger to the word "cock" on the page.

"A cock is a…" she screwed up her face in agitation as she did not know the English word for _coq_. "A boy bird!"

"Oh, Fleur," Audrey laughed. "You do have a lot to learn!"


	7. Chapter 7

_The characters do not belong to me, they belong to JK Rowling._

Author's Note: I have four left to post in this Challenge and I have had a lot of fun doing these. Thank you to all who have reviewed my previous drabbles! I will be posting two today and two more on Thursday, but I am working on other works and would love to find a beta if anyone is interested. For instance, somebody who could help me with my out of control run on sentence problem would be appreciated .

Prompt: Cold

Pairing: Andromeda and Kingsley

Cold

Andromeda shivered. It was cold still near the ocean in early May, but the children did not seem to mind. They frolicked on the beach under the watchful eyes of the adults. Exuberant after a morning spent on best behavior and an afternoon spent eating birthday cake.

It wasn't hard to find her grandson, Teddy, amongst the rabble. Quite aside from the blue hair or the fact that he was the tallest, he had a little shadow dodging his every step in the form of the birthday girl herself. Her bright blonde plaits bouncing on her back, her homemade crown still on her head, pretty dress traded in for jeans and her latest Weasley jumper, the newly turned four-year-old was undaunted by Teddy's indifference.

_Well, he'll notice someday_, Andromeda mused. There was no mistaking that little Victoire was her mother's daughter.

"You look cold, would you like my cloak?" asked the deep, smooth voice of the Minister of Magic.

Kingsley didn't wait for an answer, just slipped the royal blue cloak around her shoulders. It was warm from his body and smelled of sandalwood. Andromeda felt the heat of it seep into her skin, right to her bones. How long had it been since she had felt this warm?

"Does it ever seem to you that we are paired up at the end of every one of these Weasley events?" he asked with a self-deprecating grin.

"Well, with all of the other attendees married, I suppose it is only natural that the only two lonely souls would seek one another out."

He looked at her, his green eyes as heated as his cloak. "I thought, perhaps, that Molly was playing matchmaker."

Andromeda found herself laughing, but she didn't recognize her laughter. Or, at least, it sounded foreign to her, she couldn't remember the last time she had laughed that warm laugh.

"Molly?" she said dryly. "Meddling? Surely you jest."

Kingsley chuckled, a sound that rumbled in his chest and made his face open up in a most appealing way. Suddenly what he had said, sunk in. Was Molly playing matchmaker? Andromeda looked at Kingsley, who was looking back.

Well, he was certainly striking, handsome even. His skin was the color of dark chocolate, his perfectly shaped bald head, full lips, curiously pale eyes. He was tall, but not too tall like Arthur, and his shoulders were broad, his body powerful. Was she appraising this man's attributes?

A cold wind whipped a thick stand of hair, embarrassingly gray, into her face. He reached up and tucked it behind her ear, his fingertips grazing her cheek. His fingers were hot against her pale, cool skin that was now tingling.

As if by agreement, they both averted their eyes, staring out at the beach. Andromeda watched as Teddy swung Victoire about, the girl's giggles those of pure joy.

Yet, her mind was on the man standing beside her.


	8. Chapter 8

_The characters do not belong to me, they belong to JK Rowling_

Prompt: Dare

Pairing: George and Angelina

Dare

Angelina stirred and stretched languidly. She was quite warm and comfortable and not at all inclined to get out of bed. She rolled onto her side, hooking one long, dark leg over the pale, muscled legs of the man asleep beside her.

George.

She couldn't regret how last night had turned out, even if she didn't have any better idea of where they were at than before. Some secret, romantic part of her wanted to call what they did "making love." The more realistic and cautious side, the side that ruled her life, called it a "fun romp."

Angelina wiggled in close to George, pressing her naked breasts into his arm and her mons into his hip.

"Mmm, morning," he mumbled. He looked at her, a sleepy smirk on his face. "Ready to go again?"

"Actually, I think a trip to the loo is in order."

"As long as I get to watch that gorgeous arse wiggle down the hall."

She shoved him playfully. Angelina knew better than to let George know how much she liked it when he teased her. He would be unbearable if she let him get too full of himself.

She froze in the motion of sitting up as there was a loud banging on the door.

"Oi, George!" Ron yelled. "Get up already. Shop opens in a half hour."

"I thought Ron moved out," she hissed.

"He did." George said with a shrug. "But he still comes round for breakfast in the mornings. Hermione won't keep any of the fun cereals on hand."

"So, you were expecting him?"

"Yep, Harry too."

She stared at the door, echoing, "'Harry, too. . . ' George," she said, snapping her head around to look at him. "You do realize that all of my clothes are in the lounge."

His look was beatific. "Mine, too."

Angelina gave him one of her patented glares. "Well!"

"What?"

"I can't very well saunter out there starkers, now can I?"

"Why not?"

She just glared at him. Really, she couldn't see how that required any type of response.

Propping himself up on his elbow, George looked at her with an expression she hadn't seen on his face in. . .well, a very long time. Then he said:

"I. Dare. You."

She pushed him away. "How old do you think I am?" she demanded. "I'm not 15 anymore, I don't take dares from George Weasley!"

She climbed out of bed in a huff, knowing that he was watching her and feeling her nipples contract just at the thought. She grabbed the sheet and yanked it off the bed.

"Give me that," she snarled, wrapping it around herself.

She stalked to the door and pulled it open. Ron and Harry were in the small kitchen making breakfast. They stopped what they were doing to stare at her.

"Morning," she said tersely, then stomped down the hall and disappeared into the loo.

"Was that. . ." Harry started, scratching his head.

"Our old Quidditch captain, yeah," Ron responded.

"Beautiful when she's angry, huh?" George said gleefully from where he was standing in the bedroom door.

"Oi! George! Put some clothes on!" Ron cried in disgust. "I didn't need to see your prick while I ate my Fruit Loops."

George disappeared into his room, but not before giving the boys a good look at his backside.

"I think I'll start getting my morning coffee at that new Starbucks that opened a block over from Grimauld Place," Harry said prosaically.

Ron shoveled a spoonful of cereal into his mouth before asking, "What's Starbucks?"


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: Alas, back to sensitive subject territory for me. There is a character death, although not a cannon one.

_The characters do not belong to me, but to JK Rowling._

Prompt: Pain

Pairing: Charlie and OC

Pain

Sergei came to a stop just outside the door and looked at his red haired friend sympathetically. "I should warn you, Charlie, she's pretty gruesome."

Charlie nodded solemnly. "I reckoned as much."

"Do you want me to stay with you?"

"No." He knew he had to do this alone.

Sergei hesitated, then, "It could have been an accident."

_It could have been, _Charlie thought,_ but it probably wasn't._

He clapped his friend on the shoulder and walked into the room where Mary's body was being held until…well, until he could get here. She had waited until he and Pax were safely in England visiting the Burrow, then she took a nice broom ride into a restricted area on a Dragon Reserve. Now, she lay on a metal table in the Reserve's medical center, under a sheet. He'd already been told that she'd been burnt to a cinder.

"But the fall probably killed her first," Sergei had said by way of comfort.

Charlie pulled up a stool and sat next to her body. He didn't pull back the sheet, but he did uncover her hand. Her wedding ring was still on her finger. Not his ring, no. It was her dead husband's ring.

_Now,_ Charlie thought grimly,_ you'll be reunited after all this time. I hope your pain is finally eased._

But what of his pain? What of Pax?

He had thought he loved her once, this beautiful, mournful Mary. Now, he wasn't so sure. They'd been lovers, lived like husband and wife in many ways, raised her son together. He had known all along that she did not love him the way that he loved her.

Or thought he did.

It seems obvious, in retrospect, that it had always been about the boy. Just like her suicide now seemed blatantly apparent. He had known she was depressed, of course he knew! But now all of the little clues, the little moments that led them to this place were easily readable.

Charlie wondered if he should take the ring, keep it for Pax. But Pax never knew his real father, the man had been killed by Snatchers the night Pax was born. No, the ring meant more to Mary than it had to Pax. She should keep it.

Meanwhile, Pax and Charlie had each other. Charlie was the only father the boy had known, he had been in Pax's life since he was a week old. And while Mary had never let Pax call Charlie "Dad," well in Charlie's heart that's who he was.

He took her hand and pressed a kiss to her fingers, then set it back on the table and covered it once more. For the gift of her son, Charlie would always remember Mary fondly.


	10. Chapter 10

_I do not own the characters, JK Rowling does._

Prompt: Tomorrow

Pairing: Percy and Audrey

Tomorrow

"Let's do it tomorrow," Audrey said as she snuggled into the crook of Percy's arm.

"Tomorrow? We only just got engaged an hour ago," Percy replied sleepily. "We haven't even told our parents yet."

Audrey rolled onto her stomach, her arm resting on Percy's bare chest. "Why wait? I don't want a big wedding like my sisters had."

"No, I don't care for that much either," Percy admitted. "But I want to do it properly, with family and close friends."

"The Weasleys and the Sprayberrys?" she scoffed. "You have…five siblings and I have four, count in significant others or dates, plus parents and grandparents—that's 150 people!"

"You're exaggerating. It's more like 75."

"Plus you'll want Oliver and Katie there with the baby and the whole Wood clan."

"I've told you that Oliver doesn't belong to a clan just because he is Scots."

"He's more interesting if I think about him in a kilt."

Percy glared at her. "First, you've read too many Muggle romances. Second, I find it disturbing that you are imagining my best friend in a kilt. In fact, I find it disturbing that you are thinking of him at all."

She climbed on top of him, straddling his chest, her brown eyes flashing with devilment. "Jealous?"

He smacked her arse, making her giggle. "Wench."

Quick as a flash, he had her flipped onto her back, squealing and breathless, pressing into her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to kiss him.

"Marry me tomorrow, Percy," she said after some time.

He gave her one of his serious looks. "I need to do this properly, Audrey, do you think you can get trussed up in a white dress in front of our families for me?"

She stroked his ginger curls. "You have nothing left to prove to them, Percy. They have forgiven you, they have accepted you back."

"I know, I know," he assured her. "But I need to do this for me, for my family. I wasn't at Bill's-"

She made to interrupt, to protest, but he hushed her with a finger to her lips.

"No," he said, "I wasn't properly at Bill's wedding. And it's just past a year since Fred. We need this, something to look forward to.

"I can't get married without my family there, not after what I did."

"Are you ever going to forgive yourself, love?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm working on it."

"Alright then," she said, "for you, I can have a big family wedding…next weekend?"

He chuckled, though he knew her to be perfectly serious. He dipped his head to press a kiss to her chest. "I love you, but can we set a date for a month's time? Mum's not a miracle worker."

"Fine, then. A month it is."

She cupped his face and kissed him again. "Because I love you and you deserve good things."

He smiled at her. "I love you, that's all I need."

"You're wrong."

He heaved a sigh and kissed her again. It was always best to distract Audrey when she was in one of these moods. And since they were already in bed…

Author's Note: When I saw my prompts written out, _Endings_ was the first on the list and _Tomorrow _was the last. I immediately saw them as bookends. I think I had already settled on the story arc for Endings, so I decided to bring it full circle and give Percy something to look forward to.

I hope you enjoyed reading these as much as I enjoyed writing them. I plan to post another story next week (Tuesday, if editing goes well). It will be a short story about Katie and Oliver. I am working on a multi-chapter fic, but it is a long way from being done. Until then, I hope to post a few other stories for my own enjoyment if nothing else.

Thanks for the reviews, hope you all have a good weekend.


End file.
